Borneo and Singapore with old and young

[BorneoSingapore]

We have a 12 day holiday planned to Singpore and Borneo in October. We have so far only booked flights to Singapore.

We will meet DM aged 80, dear Sis, mid 50s and bring our DC with us: 12 and 9.

I am trying to work out an itinerary that will keep DC and DM happy. DM will find it hard to walk in the heat and dear Sis is more a shopping and cocktails type of person.

1. Where can we stay in KK that is on a beautiful beach but not on an island? Looking for something very nice - 4* plus or nice villa. Pool.
2. The four of us (minus probably DM and dear sis) are up for seeing orangutans, monkeys and pygmy elephants. Do we have to fly to somewhere like Kuching or are there day trips we could do from KK?
3. Is there an essential side trip we should do while in Borneo eg overnight in Kuching or home stay? Again it would be the four of us. But appreciate we are there mainly to see DM.
4. DM loves Singapore. How many nights should we devote to this? Any tips on where to stay?

We want to spend quality time with DM but she and child free sister are not going to be massively tolerant of tweens… And tensions will arise about our parenting etc and different people wanting to do different things so am happy to
pick a base and then people can go off for a few hours and do their own thing before meeting up.

I am guilty of trying to maximise all holidays and building in a frantic itinerary so how do we do a more chilled version but still covering the must see sights? To be fair, I don’t think any of us would be up for long mountain or jungle treks anyway. And yes, I realise this might make Borneo maybe not the right destination for us but that decision has been taken out of my hands now. Thanks in advance!

I think you need a Borneo specialist travel agent tbh. They’ll be able to put together an itinerary for you with different options for the different participants.

Does it have to be Borneo? Mainland Malaysia is equally accessible from Singapore (more so - bus to KL from Singapore) and would be a much easier experience I suspect. Borneo required quite a lot of internal flights, iirc.

I stayed at the Hyatt in KK about 10 years ago and we visited the Shangri La hotel as they had a small orangutan sanctuary there. I don’t believe it’s there anymore, but the hotel was stunning
https://www.rasariareserve.com/about-us.html
There is another shangri La in KK which may also be worth researching.
KK itself was not that interesting imo, and we preferred Kuching.
we did a day trip from KK that took us to a hot spring area, mount kinabalu and also a tree top walk, nothing too strenuous, but probably not for your mum. We also visited one of the islands off KK, took a boat from Jessleton, I think.
kuching
We did some great trips from Kuching: kayaking, seeing orangutans in the wild and also visiting long houses. We stayed at the Hilton which was centrally located.
I’ve been to Singapore several times and usually stay in the Orchard road area which is convenient for metro and shopping centres. Night safari is great (part walking and part by open vehicle) and may suit your Mum if she finds the daytime humidity exhausting. Botanical gardens are beautiful too and Gardens by the Bay is fabulous.
Apologies if some of my information is a little sketchy as our first trip to Borneo was 11 years ago.

Borneo we went to see the sun bears & orangutans at Sepilok, the centres are next to each other. Then a taxi to see the long nosed monkeys.
We went scuba diving or you can go snorkeling to the islands off Semporna like Bohey Dulang, Mabul etc. Get a guide to take you on boat in to the marine park. Amazing amount of different fish, turtles, corals

Singapore I recommend visiting the Gardens by the Bay to go inside the natural domes. We went this year & they had some avatar exhibits in the domes too. The gardens outside the domes are lovely, there is a children's water park, food venues & statues & places to sit.
Singapore is much more expensive than Borneo.
There is an underground train metro that you can travel on to see China Town, Little India etc

Both places are extremely hot !
Loose clothes, umbrella for shade, water, good shoes for walking, change of clothes

We booked our own flights, accommodation & trips

I have not been to Sentosa in Singapore yet, but it looks good

If you've got tweens in Singapore I'd stay on Sentosa, it's a small island connected by a causeway, you can get there by cable car, taxi, monorail, walk. It's got beaches and a large theme park so loads for the kids to do.

Gardens by the Bay, the Botanic Gardens, Changi Museum (WW2 museum) for mum.

Singapore is really easy to get around, taxi, bus MRT (metro). Use the Grab app for taxis and City maper for public transport.

Join Travellin in and out of Singapore on Facebook for hints and tips.

If you've got time when you leave Singapore, give yourself a few hours at The Jewel. Depending on airline, there's an early check in desk at Jewel, so you can dump the bags there. www.changiairport.com/en/airport-guide/departing/early-checkin-online.html

Jewel is connected to the airport and has shopping, restaurants, cafes and loads of kids activities on the top floor. It has a huge waterfall, you often see brides having their photos taken there.
www.jewelchangiairport.com/en.html

When you travel into Singapore you have to complete a health declaration within the 3 days prior to arrival. Depending on airline, you have to show proof of completion at check in. Do this for everyone before you set off as it would be a real hassle at check in. www.ica.gov.sg/enter-transit-depart/entering-singapore/sg-arrival-card

Wow thanks for the Singapore tips @S0upertrooper ! Super useful and your recommendations look fab. Your tips @Shanghaidiva are much appreciated. @Benidorm8Banter were those places easy to reach from KK?

I guess to sum up we want a bit of beach luxury (though I have read the beaches are not very clean - yikes- and to see some wildlife but in an accessible way. What is the best way to do the latter? Should we do day trips from KK or will it involve flights and a few nights in the jungle? I know most people come to Borneo for the trekking etc but I don’t think we will be up for being too far off the beaten track. It may whet our appetite to come back in the future though to be a bit more adventurous!